From DEBRA@oln.comlink.apc.orgTue Aug 22 02:31:24 1995
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 1995 04:32:00 +0100
From: Debra Guzman <DEBRA@oln.comlink.apc.org>
Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org
To: beijing95-l@netcom.com, beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org
Subject: Nafis Sadik on Beijing hopes

    [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set]
    [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set]
    [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly]

## author     : theearthtime@igc.apc.org
## date       : 16.08.95

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nafis Sadik on Beijing hopes
Earth Times News Service

Since the first World Conference on Women in Mexico, 20
years ago, there have been dramatic changes: but for too
many women, the world remains the same. Most of the world's
poorest people are female, and their number is growing. Most
of the world's illiterates are female and their number is
growing too. Their health still remain disproportionately at
risk--three quarters of women's burden of ill-health is
attributable to pregnancy--and they are still the silent
victims of violence, within and outside the home.

But there has been much progress. In particular there has
been a breakthrough in the way the world community regards
women and women's issues. Last year's International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) showed how
far we have come.

The Conference was a start of a new era in population and
development. The Program of Action adopted at the Conference
was a result of three years of discussion, involving women
and men from all the world's countries, including thousands
of women's organizations. The ICPD Program of Action
explicitly places human beings at the center of all
development activities, and encourages the international
community to address global problems by meeting individual
needs. The Program of Action calls for gender equity and
equality, for making it possible for women to have and
exercise choices, and for making reproductive health care
available throughout the world.

The Cairo Conference's explicit 20-year goals for expanded
access to education, particularly for girls; reduced
mortality rates; and increased access to quality
reproductive health services, are the key to social and
economic development, as well as to population growth rates
that the world can accommodate. Population and sustainable
development policies must be based on taking women's
perspectives into account, and must ensure the full and
equal participation of women in all aspects of development.

The ICPD was all about choice. In particular, the power of
choice over fertility lifts much of the burden of ill-health
and allows women to participate fully in social, political
and economic life.

Making family planning available reduces the risks of
pregnancy, and helps to prevent reproductive tract
infections, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/AIDS.
Experience has shown that to address people's reproductive
and sexual health needs, family planning services should be
integrated into a wider framework which addresses their
overall health and well-being. Comprehensive reproductive
health care can be built on the foundation of existing
primary health care systems.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund,
was Secretary General of the 1994 International Conference
on Population and Development.